I just don't see the arguements people are making for the players. Sorry.

Players can't be replaced? Sorry, not a good arguement.... McNabb was replaced in Philli, Coach's get repaced all the time. Portis has been replaced, and S.Moss might be this year. The question is will the talent level be the same or will it get worse. Monitarily it might not be in the best decision, but players are cut or traded all the time.

Monopolies? I would accept this arguement had it been a few yrs ago, or if the NFL filed suit against any other football leagues, but they are not. The CFL is doing fine, There was a European League but they folded, the UFL has been running for how long now? No there is no monopolies. I'm just guessing but if all the players decided not to come back and decided to turn to the UFL, they might not get the money they had in the NFL but they would have jobs, and they would get some form of pay and I'm betting that after a few yrs they might also have paychecks close to what they are getting now. Because the fans would follow the players just to watch their favorite player play. So merchandise sales would go up for those teams enabling them to pay the players more. The NFL is not the "only" football league out there thus no monopoly. Yes they pay better then the rest but they are not the only one.

Showing of the books? The biggest arguement here is "if the owners are taking a loss then they should just open their books." I think it's easier to show then simply opening the books.... is your house worth as much as it was 5 yrs ago? I gaurantee not. If you own a business is it worth as much as it was 5 yrs ago, and have you not made less then 5 yrs ago? I'm not saying your not making money, I'm asking are you making as much or more then 5 yrs ago? Why do I ask? because the economy has tanked if you haven't known it. People are losing their homes because they can't sell them to pay off their loans. So your going to tell me that people are of the mind set to think "F- my house, but I'll pay for my season tickets"? "hey I can't make my mortgage payment, but I'm going to purchase a Jersay"? "hey I can't pay my bills but I'm going to load up on the food and beer at the park today"? I don't think so. I can tell you there is no way any of you will change my mind and make me believe the owners have not been taking in less money. Are they hurting? no, but the owners are taking in less money which effects their revenue sharing. Gas prices have gone up so I'm also sure the cost of flying players to other locations costs more now. Say all you want about the NFL being a money machine but the money machine needs funds to operate. See the Gov. was in a similar situation, ask the employees to take a pay cut, or shut down for 30 days? How they could say they don't have the money one day then the next say ok everything is fine is baffling. Somewhere they robbed Peter to pay Paul. Hopefully the NFL does not find itself in a similar situation. Players not giving the 1 billion to the owners and later the owners having to either move teams to better markets so the owners will not have to share as much with each other or shut down because they simply can't afford to keep operating.

It is not a matter of just being a monopoly or not. Just being a monopoly is not going to get the firms up into the courts. Some firms are monopolies because "of the nature of the beast"

It is the act of monopolizing the relevant market. The firm(s) have to do an active act in order to get a case against them in antitrust. Many pages are spent just defining the market-. For the NFL to get slammed for antitrust they need to be doing an act in which they try to create a barrier to entry or price fixing, etc.

Even though the NFL is not a monopoly per se, it has certainly market share and market power. The NFL is a dominant firm with a compeititive fringe.

__________________ Analysis using datasets (aka stats) is an attempt at reverse-engineering a player's "goodness".

Virtuosity remembered, douchebaggery forgotten.

The ideal character profile shoved down modern Western men and women's throats is Don Juan.

I think its about time for the owners to take back the game and control of it. How? By giving the players just what they want .... a Free market labor system! They are so very sure that the game can not do without them, that they make the Game versus The GAME being their ticket to a better life that it all needs to be blown up so that the real facts of life are restated into their pea sized brains!

The Owners have been playing on the players field of play for far to long. Lets get out of the courts (Litigation), out of the Lockout, away from a Lack of Football (the 3 L's) and back to playing the game.